Following on from my last post on "Live R&D", I was reading Alpha Leadership (Deering, Russell & Dilts), and found an analogy which pretty much captures the concept of "Live R&D".

In terms of modern warfare, there was a time when a marksman would ready himself, take aim, and then fire. If he missed, he would calibrate the result he got and then run the same procedure. The phrase "Ready, Aim, Fire" is so natural to us that you may still think it's the title of this blog - read it again ;-)

Whilst guns worked well with stationary targets, problems arise where the target is mobile, or an accurate position cannot be established before firing.

In the age of precision guided munitions, you fire first...then you take aim. This allows "smart" weapons to adapt themselves to changing circumstances and intelligence in-flight.

This strategy of "Ready-Aim-Fire" is the reality facing all entrepreneurs and organisations in fast changing markets. If you spend too much time on "Ready, Aim" (strategy and market calibration) before you try something you will waste valuable time and opportunities.

One of the values we provide our clients, large and small, is the necessary agility to rapidily take a proposition to the market, adjust "in-flight" based on live feedback and intelligence, and hit the target.

Once a process has been developed, our clients are able to scale-up with by sales outsourcing, building an internal resource, or a hybrid of both models.